Tobias Sylvester
Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has said that the reason why Nigeria is still existing is because “God is a Nigerian.”
Obasanjo, speaking at the international conference organized at Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, however, warned that the country was fast losing its identity over what he termed “poor management of the nation’s diversity.”
The conference which had in attendance the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo and Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, had the theme: “Religion, the state and global politics”.
In his speech titled “Towards a reunification of the sacred and secular religious intervention in politics,” Obasanjo said:
“We are badly handling our diversity that we are losing our identity. And for as long as we are doing that, we are not going to get far even if we get anywhere at all. The management of our diversity must be right.
“Religion is part of our diversity. Politics is part of our diversity. Ethnicity is part of our diversity. We must manage our diversity properly. But when you mismanage diversity with impunity, it is particularly annoying. It may lead to what we may not want it to lead to.
“I don’t know of any Nigerian who doesn’t wish Nigeria well. But I know of many Nigerians who are so unhappy with Nigeria that they may walk away from Nigeria. However, I am an incurable optimist about Nigeria.
“God is a Nigerian because what we have gone through in Nigeria and what we are going through, probably, Nigeria should not be on the map of the world. That’s why I say God is a Nigerian. God has been kind to us; if not, the country would have ceased to exist,” he said.
